Bill Text: TX HCR26 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Urging the United States Congress to repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-30 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HCR26 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HCR26-Comm_Sub.html
83R1156 BPG-D | ||
By: Flynn, Keffer, Taylor, Creighton, | H.C.R. No. 26 | |
Bonnen of Brazoria, et al. |
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WHEREAS, The banking and insurance industries are essential | ||
to the continued growth and well-being of Texas, serving as | ||
important hubs of economic activity for communities throughout the | ||
state; the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection | ||
Act not only poses a major threat to these businesses, but will | ||
serve as a destructive influence on the entire state; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed by the United | ||
States Congress on July 21, 2010, consists of 2,300 pages of new | ||
statutory language and increases the size of the federal government | ||
by creating 13 new regulatory agencies; supporters of the | ||
legislation claim that it will equip federal regulators with powers | ||
to prevent another financial debacle like the country experienced | ||
from 2007 through 2009, but in reality, the bill sets up a | ||
regulatory regime that allows "Too Big to Fail" banks and Wall | ||
Street to continue to avoid adequate scrutiny while it punishes | ||
traditional Texas banks that had nothing to do with the recent | ||
crisis; and | ||
WHEREAS, Established to regulate all consumer financial | ||
services in the United States, the new Consumer Financial | ||
Protection Bureau will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in | ||
annual funding from the Federal Reserve System and is not subject to | ||
congressional oversight through the appropriations process; it has | ||
been granted the power to decide what types of financial products | ||
can and cannot be offered, as well as the power to set prices for | ||
consumer loans, mortgages, and small business loans; and | ||
WHEREAS, If this new agency becomes what its advocates have | ||
envisioned, it will be at least as large as the Internal Revenue | ||
Service; Texas banks will have fewer and more expensive products to | ||
offer to their customers, and the credit needs of rural and urban | ||
Texans will be determined by an agency in Washington; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will also | ||
greatly increase compliance costs for Texas community banks; | ||
smaller banks will see their compliance and employee costs increase | ||
by tens of thousands of dollars on an annual basis, resulting in | ||
millions of dollars in loans lost to area communities; furthermore, | ||
these new costs will drive down profitability and lead to the | ||
consolidation of the banking industry; fewer banks mean less credit | ||
and fewer choices for borrowers across the state; and | ||
WHEREAS, Even before the effective date of the Dodd-Frank | ||
Act, federal bank regulators began examining banks and imposing | ||
sanctions that have harmed credit availability all over Texas; in | ||
the name of consumer protection and fair lending, the federal | ||
agencies have curtailed services, such as overdraft protection, | ||
that are wanted by Texas bank customers; the limitation on bank | ||
service fees will increase costs for all consumer services and lead | ||
to the end of offerings such as free checking; during fair lending | ||
examinations, banks are being told that discrepancies of a few | ||
cents in the charging of interest rates can lead to referrals to the | ||
U.S. Department of Justice; this has led to a chilling effect and a | ||
reluctance by community banks to make small consumer and business | ||
loans; and | ||
WHEREAS, Another example of federal intervention in the | ||
pricing of financial products is the rate caps placed on | ||
interchange fees for debit cards; the Dodd-Frank Act takes the | ||
pricing of these services from the marketplace and places it in the | ||
hands of the Federal Reserve; severe restrictions on interchange | ||
fees could leave banks and credit unions unable to cover the full | ||
costs associated with providing checking accounts and debit cards | ||
and force them to cease offering some debit and checking products | ||
and to increase fees on those they continue to provide; lower income | ||
Texans who have obtained greater access to affordable retail | ||
banking, partly because of interchange fees, would have less access | ||
to traditional institutions and be forced to go back to the less | ||
regulated "shadow" banking system with its increased costs; now, | ||
therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to | ||
repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection | ||
Act; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |